Cargill processes first e-bill of lading

Monday, March 04, 2013

The U.S. agribusiness Cargill made its first grain shipment using an electronic bill of lading last week, Reuters reported Friday.
Cargill used the electronic process to underlie a shipment of grain from Houston to Veracruz, Mexico. The transfer of documents took 19 minutes, the company said in a statement to Reuters.
“After nearly 150 years of paper bills of lading, this first electronic BL represents a historical milestone for us,” company spokesman Ernst Herger said in a statement.
The Reuters report said analysts estimate a single ocean shipment requires an average of 36 original paper documents and 240 copies from 27 separate parties.American Shipper research from 2012 shows that fewer than 30 percent of shippers automate booking in their international transportation management process.
“This shipment commences a wider rollout into various agricultural trades, initially around the Atlantic Basin, with exports from North and South America to the (Caribbean) and Europe,” Cargill said.
Cargill is using a module called CargoDocs, developed by Malta-based software developer Electronic Shipping Solutions.
“We are seeing specific interest across dry bulk, and we have been approached on a number of other commodities outside of agri,” ESS Chief Executive Alexander Goulandris told Reuters. - Eric Johnson